Penn State heads into the second half of spring practice with three quarterbacks still vying for the top spot, head coach Bill O’Brien said Wednesday.

“Right now, there’s no separation,” O’Brien said on the Big Ten football conference call.

In a recent interview with ESPN.com, O’Brien said that he hoped to reduce the pool of candidates for the starting job from three to two by the end of spring practice. But on Wednesday, the head coach said even that decision might take a bit longer.

“At the end of spring ball, I'm sure we'll have a better idea of which one or two guys will be the starter,” O’Brien said. “Hopefully we can do that by the end. If not, and then we head into training camp and continue with three guys getting reps, so be it. But hopefully, over the next eight practices, a couple of guys will separate themselves.”

O’Brien praised returning starters Matt McGloin and Rob Bolden and sophomore Paul Jones for their work ethic and attention. “They’re good Penn State kids,” he said. “I enjoy coaching them.”

The coach added that the quarterback who separates himself will need to be more accurate and make better decisions.

“Obviously, I want to see them grasp the offense better than they are right now,” O’Brien said. “Like I said earlier, these guys are really working at it. … You gain everything through hard work, and they're working extremely hard at it. But I want to see improved decision-making and accuracy and grasping [of] the offense, and then it's easier to make a decision.”